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8 people were shot in Texas at a watch party. The gunman is unidentified.

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A gunman with multiple weapons barged into his ex-wife's home and shot nine people, killing eight of them, at a Texas football watch party Sunday night - before police responded and killed the shooter, investigators revealed Monday.

Two people were wounded when the gunman, identified by Fox 4 as Spencer Hight, opened fire inside the party at a single-family home off Spring Creek Parkway in Plano, less than 20 minutes from Dallas, around 8 p.m.. The two wounded victims were transported to the hospital where one of them later died. Of the nine shooting victims, only one survived.

Witnesses said the group was watching the Dallas Cowboys season opener against the New York Giants.

"It sounded like an argument between a woman and a man and it got really loud...next thing you know all you heard was multiple rounds just going off," Crystal Sugg, who works nearby, told Fox 4.

Sugg said she heard a loud argument for about 20 minutes - and then gunshots.

"I heard guns and a lot of screaming," she said. "All I heard was, 'Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.'"

Police said at a news conference Monday they have not identified all of the victims, but said they were all adult men and women.

Debbie Lane told WFAA the gunman was her former son-in-law who killed her daughter, Meredith Lane. The mother said the couple recently got divorced after six years of marriage and the man used to own the home where the shooting happened.

"She was a cook, and a quite fine one, and she loved hosting friends and families," Lane told WFAA. "This was her first opportunity to do it after the divorce and he didn't take it well."

"I really wish we knew who the other victims were. They were all close dear friends. We don't know," Lane said.

Other witnesses reported hearing about 30 or more gunshots.

"My neighbor had already heard the first couple of shots, and we came outside and next thing you know, all you heard was like, 'pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,'" Steven Featherland said.

Tilley said police initially responded to a report of shots fired. When the first officer arrived and went inside the home, the officer confronted the suspected shooter.

"After he heard the gunshots, he made entry and that's when he observed several victims inside and then engaged the suspect," police spokesman David Tilley said The Dallas Morning News.

Police have not released a motive for the shooting, though officials said at a news conference Monday it was an isolated incident and the shooter had a prior relationship with a person or people inside that residence.

Plano police chief Gregory Rushin said a shooting of this magnitude was unusual for Plano, especially in such a quiet neighborhood. He could not say whether police had been called to the home before Sunday.

"Any time you have a homocide it's disturbing and certainly when you have this many victims," Rushin said at a press conference. "We've never had this in our city before."

"I've been here all my life," Tilley said. "I've never heard of anything like this."

Sugg added: "I'm in shock. It is always quiet around here."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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8 shot dead at Texas football watch party; gunman killed, police say

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A gunman with multiple weapons barged into his ex-wife's home and shot nine people, killing eight of them, at a Texas football watch party Sunday night - before police responded and killed the shooter, investigators revealed Monday.

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trumps plan could make investors very wealthy

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Trump's infrastructure plan is a moon-landing sized project that has the potential to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into the coffers of a select group of companies...

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Baby born in home during hurricane irma

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baby born at home during irma - cnn video

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Baby born at home during Irma - CNN Video

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An emergency crew responded to a call of a woman in labor in her home during Hurricane Irma. CNN's Don Lemon interviewed the response team.

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Cuba cleans up after Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean

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Irma made landfall in Cuba overnight on Friday as a Category 5 storm, blasting into seaside towns and causing flooding in low-lying areas of the capital Havana. Hurricane-force winds of 125 mph (over 200 kp/h) whipped roofs clean off buildings, ripped trees from the ground and forced evacuations along the coast.

As Irma made its way toward the US mainland on Sunday afternoon, the last remaining hurricane warning in Cuba was discontinued for the provinces of Matanzas and La Habana.

But rainfall is expected to continue through Wednesday, producing an additional one to three inches in western Cuba and up to five inches in isolated areas. Authorities will be on alert for flash floods and mudslides amid recovery and clean-up efforts, while Hurricane Jose swirls in the Atlantic.

Irma's blinding rain and powerful winds began pummeling Caibarién, a small coastal city about 200 miles (320 kilometers) east of Havana, late Friday. The outer bands of the massive storm knocked out power in a town that normally would be busy with tourists.

By dawn Saturday, waves were rolling down the town's main street. Within hours, the whole town was flooded with several feet of water.

Most people in the coastal area live in one-story homes, putting them at great risk as floodwaters rose to roof level in some places. Residents were overwhelmed by the damage and said recovery will take time. Many had left town before the storm hit and all foreigners were urged to evacuate. Those who remained told CNN they were prepared, though they knew this was a storm like few had ever experienced.

Meanwhile, as dusk fell Saturday in Havana, the churning waters moved inland from the city's popular seafront boulevard. Flooding continued Sunday afternoon along the malecón, spreading into adjacent streets with waist-level water in some areas. At the US Embassy in Havana, part of a fence that guards the compound was knocked over. US Marines and Cuban police surrounded the area.

So far there have been no reports of deaths in Cuba. Elsewhere in the Caribbean, 26 deaths have been attributed to Irma. Nine were in various French territories, one in Barbuda, one in Anguilla, four in St. Maarten, four in the British Virgin Islands, four in the US Virgin Islands, and three in Puerto Rico.

The Cuban government prepared by staging emergency supplies and building equipment ahead of the arrival of Irma. Authorities cut power to parts of the city and evacuated around 10,000 people from central Havana amid concerns of storm surge flooding, according to Reuters.

Elsewhere in the country, Irma struck the archipelago north of Cuba's Camaguey and Ciego de Avila provinces with gusts so strong they destroyed an instrument used to measure wind, Cuba's meteorological agency reported.

Hurricane-strength winds later were recorded in the northern half of Camaguey province, the agency said. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to hit Camaguey in 85 years, according to the province's state media radio station.

As Irma advanced over neighboring Ciego de Avila province, waves of between 16- and 23-foott waves (5 to 7 meters) were recorded.

In the resort town of Varadero in the Matanzas province, 14,500 foreign tourists rode out the storm, according to state-run news organization Granma.

Irma left a string of small Caribbean islands devastated, many of which are still assessing damage as they prepare for Hurricane Jose.

The tiny island of Barbuda was perhaps worst hit. Prime Minister Gaston Browne described the result as "total devastation."

Antigua, Barbuda's sister island and home to about 80,000 people, was spared the brunt of the storm. Many Barbuda have been evacuated ahead of Jose.

St. Martin, an 87-square kilometer island split roughly in half between the French overseas territory of St. Martin and Dutch-administered St. Maarten, has suffered property damage and power outages. French President Emmanuel Macron will leave Monday night for St. Martin and spend Tuesday surveying the damage.

Evacuations continue on the island ahead of Hurricane Jose. Between Friday and Sunday afternoon, the United States evacuated approximately 1,200 Americans from St. Maarten, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

Irma caused roughly 1.2 billion euros ($1.44 billion) of insured damage in the French portion of St. Martin and in St. Barts, according to French state-owned insurer CCR. The estimate includes damages to homes, vehicles and businesses -- including operating losses -- which are covered by the natural disaster compensation scheme, CCR said Saturday.

Looting broke out on the island, French and Dutch authorities said Friday, and security forces were deployed to deal with the problem. The island is home to about 72,000 people.

Just to the north, Anguilla, a 90-square kilometer island that is among several British overseas territories in the Caribbean, "received the hurricane's full blast," according to UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Alan Duncan.

The US and British Virgin Islands were also pummeled by Irma. Pictures from St. Thomas, the most populated of the US Virgin Islands and a popular tourist destination, showed extensive damage. St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island have been without any electrical service for more than five days.

Relief supplies and personnel began to stream into St. Thomas after the airport and commercial marine port facilities were cleared for use, Gov. Kenneth Mapp said in a statement on Facebook. For now, the top priorities being addressed are food, water, temporary shelter and the restoration of electricity, he said.

Food, water and roof tarps were distributed to residents Sunday from fire stations and a ballpark while military assets were used to transport supplies, equipment and search and rescue personnel through affected areas. Efforts to restore electricity were hampered by traffic in violation of a curfew from 6 p.m. to noon. Mapp warned that arrests would be made if necessary.

A state of emergency remains in place for British Virgin Islands. "All of us have been affected by Irma, and some more than others," Gus Jaspert, governor of the British Virgin Islands, said Thursday.

"Apart from the structural damage, there have sadly been reports of casualties and fatalities," he added. "I am truly heartbroken by this news."

Puerto Rico, an unincorporated US territory, managed to avoid a direct hit from Irma but suffered strong winds and torrential rains. Hundreds of thousands of people remained without power on Friday.

Strong winds and heavy rain also lashed the Dominican Republic, Haiti and the low-lying Turks and Caicos Islands Thursday into Friday. The Turks and Caicos' capital island of Grand Turk suffered "quite a bit of damage," including to part of a hospital's roof, Gov. John Freeman told CNN on Friday.

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cuba cleans up after hurricane irma tears through caribbean - cnn

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Laura Smith-Spark, Patrick Oppmann and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN

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Cuba cleans up after Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean

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Irma made landfall in Cuba overnight on Friday as a Category 5 storm, blasting into seaside towns and causing flooding in low-lying areas of the capital Havana. Hurricane-force winds of 125 mph (over 200 kp/h) whipped roofs clean off buildings, ripped trees from the ground and forced evacuations along the coast.

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Trump and first lady Melania Trump observed a moment of silence at the White House on Monday in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people who were killed when hijackers flew commercial airplanes into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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Associated Press 26 mins ago By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press

© Win McNamee/Getty Images

Trump and first lady Melania Trump observed a moment of silence at the White House on Monday in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people who were killed when hijackers flew commercial airplanes into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The Trumps bowed their heads and placed their hands over their hearts as "Taps" was played on the South Lawn during the somber ceremony with White House aides and other administration officials.

The morning remembrance was held at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane struck one of the Twin Towers on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

Trump and his wife were also paying their respects at a Pentagon ceremony led by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The observances come as the U.S. grapples with the death and destruction caused by two hurricanes in three weeks.

Vice President Mike Pence was representing the administration at an observance at the 9/11 memorial in Shanksville.

A native New Yorker, Trump has a mixed history with 9/11. He frequently uses the terrorist strikes to praise the city's response but also makes unsubstantiated claims about what he did and saw on that day.

Trump often lauds the bravery of New York police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders who rushed to the Twin Towers, in some cases knowing they probably wouldn't make it out alive, as an example of the resilience of the city where he made a name for himself.

But Trump has criticized President George W. Bush's handling of the attacks, accusing his fellow Republican of failing to keep Americans safe.

Trump has also made dubious claims about Sept. 11, particularly saying when talking about Muslims that "thousands of people were cheering" in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan, as the towers collapsed. There is no evidence in news archives of mass celebrations there by Muslims.

Trump has also said he lost "hundreds of friends" in the attack and that he helped clear rubble afterward. Trump has not provided the names of those he knew who perished in the attack, but has mentioned knowing a Catholic priest who died while serving as a chaplain to the city's fire department.

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Associated Press writers Ken Thomas and Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.

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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

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Trump and first lady commemorate Sept. 11 anniversary

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Associated Press 26 mins ago By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press © Win McNamee/Getty Images Trump and first lady Melania Trump observed a moment of silence at the White House on Monday in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people who were killed when hijackers flew commercial airplanes into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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Hurricane Irma ripped a roof off of a building in Florida.

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As Hurricane Irma roars through Florida, a video posted to social media showed the storm tearing a roof off a Miami building.

The 11-second video captured the roof peeling off the building. Debris could be seen littered on nearby buildings.

The City of Miami confirmed in a tweet Sunday afternoon that the roof was torn off a two-story apartment building in Miami. The video identified the building as being in the Brickwell neighborhood - the financial center near Biscayne Bay.

"Using satellite before pictures [the Miami Fire-Rescue Department] was able to confirm a roof peeled off a two story [apartment building]," the city wrote in the tweet.

Powerful winds and other dangerous conditions in the area have prevented emergency officials from sending out crews to the building yet, the Miami Herald reported Sunday.

"As soon as we start sending recon teams out the door, this is one of the first structures that needs to be checked," said Fire Chief Joseph Zahralban. "Why? One structure had a roof come off. The other structure had a roof land on it."

The powerful storm also knocked down at least two cranes in downtown Miami on Sunday.
HURRICANE IRMA'S PATH: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys Sunday morning as a Category 4 storm. It made its second landfall in Florida in Marco Island near Naples Sunday afternoon as a Category 3 hurricane.

At least 28 people have died so far in the hurricane after it ravaged the Caribbean last week.

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Hurricane Irma tears roof off Miami apartment building

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As Hurricane Irma roars through Florida, a video posted to social media showed the storm tearing a roof off a Miami building. The 11-second video captured the roof peeling off the building. Debris could be seen littered on nearby buildings.

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the girls had surgery to get there heads separated after they was born with there head together

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Story highlights

Nicole and Christian McDonald entered their boys' hospital room for a final time.

In a corner room of Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla, New York, Jadon and Anias had recovered for the past nine months of extensive rehabilitation after the surgery to separate the formerly conjoined twins.

The two boys captivated millions around the world when they underwent a 27-hour separation surgery in October. The twins, who were 13 months old at the time, had shared 5 centimeters by 7 centimeters of brain tissue, making the complicated surgery that much more difficult.

Jadon and Anias had known the world only from lying on their backs, and the surgery set them back to infancy in terms of speech and gross motor skills. In recovery, they learned how to use muscles they never knew they had. Just sitting up was a monumental task.

Doctors feared that Anias might never be able to use his right side. Yet in rehab, he's begun using his right hand almost as much as his left.

Their final day at Blythedale is one Nicole and Christian had dreamed of since before the surgery. The family transported their lives from small-town Illinois to New York in February 2016 to prepare for the procedure.

The boys had been in the hospital almost constantly since then, first at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center, where the surgery took place, and then Blythedale. They turn 2 years old on Saturday.

Gone are the fears of the surgery itself. The hour-long trips to the hospital. The longing to have their family under one roof.

Nicole lifted Anias from his hospital crib. "Are you ready to go?" she asked, cradling him close to her heart.

Across the room, Christian picked up Jadon and told him that he'll soon "get to hang out at home."

"You get to ride in a minivan," he said. "You get to be a normal little boy."

The boys were placed in a double umbrella stroller. Jadon sported a white helmet with a red Velcro strap; Anias wore a helmet with a blue stripe.

Dad pushed their stroller down the hall. Mom and their 4-year-old brother, Aza, accompanied them.

It was time to go home. Finally.

'God works through people'

The McDonald home teems with activity. Nicole and Christian purchased the home in foreclosure in the spring. Nestled in New York's Orange County, with views of the Catskill Mountains, it was in need of extensive renovation.

Christian worked almost around the clock to get it ready for his boys, ripping off siding and tearing up old carpet. A few weeks ago, four guys from Texas who are affiliated with their church showed up to help. In just 2½ days, they built front stairs, installed siding, replaced windows, refurbished the laundry room and renovated a bathroom.

Most important, they ran an electrical circuit to the boys' room to handle all of their specialized medical equipment. Anias will need a feeding tube, as well as a breathing machine and a suction machine to aid in his care.

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The formerly conjoined McDonald twins' amazing journey home | CNN

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Nicole and Christian McDonald entered their boys' hospital room for a final time. In a corner room of Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla, New York, Jadon and Anias had recovered for the past nine months of extensive rehabilitation after the surgery to separate the formerly conjoined twins.

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"Largest opening for a horror movie of all time."Making $117.2 million.

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'It' is a hit.

The Stephen King adaptation from New Line and Warner Bros. has earned a record-breaking $117.2 million from 4,103 locations according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Not only is "It" now the largest opening for a horror movie ever and the largest September opening of all time, the film more than doubled the earnings of the previous record holders.

"It" also had a modest price tag, costing around $35 million to produce.

The R-rated pic is directed by Andy Muschietti and stars Bill Skarsgard as the homicidal clown Pennywise. It's the first of a planned two-part series.

The success of "It" comes after a tumultuous and underperforming summer movie-going season that left the year-to-date box office down nearly 7 percent from last year.

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'It' floats away with record-breaking $117.2 million weekend

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'It' is a hit. The Stephen King adaptation from New Line and Warner Bros. has earned a record-breaking $117.2 million from 4,103 locations according to studio estimates on Sunday. Not only is "It" now the largest opening for a horror movie ever and the largest September opening of all...

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10 siblings, 1 legacy.

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10 children continue their father's legacy after 9/11 - cnn video

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10 children continue their father's legacy after 9/11 - CNN Video

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10 siblings decided to help raise each other after losing their father in 9/11 and then losing their mother to cancer.

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China may ban all gas en diesel cars.

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China is preparing to put the brakes on gasoline and diesel cars.

The country, home to the world's largest auto market, is working on a plan to ban the production and sale of vehicles powered solely by fossil fuels, officials say.

The Chinese government is following in the footsteps of countries like India, France, Britain and Norway, which have already announced plans to ditch gas and diesel cars in favor of cleaner vehicles in the coming years.

Related: Ford will create new brand to make electric cars in China

Regulators haven't decided yet when the Chinese ban would take effect, but work has begun on a timetable, according to China's vice minister of industry, Xin Guobin.

He warned carmakers they need to adjust their strategies to the changing situation, according to state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Authorities will offer subsidies of as much as half the retail price of electric and some hybrid vehicles to help buoy production, Xinhua reported, citing an official from the Chinese Finance Ministry.

Related: These countries want to ditch gas and diesel cars

The subsidies are good news for electric car manufacturers.

Dozens of models are already on sale in the world's second-largest economy. International auto giants like Ford , and Volkswagen are aiming to develop fully electric cars in China. GM already sells the fully electric Bolt in the U.S. and the tiny Baojun 100 in China.

Tesla stock climbed 5% on news in U.S. trading Monday. Tesla sells only all-electric cars and is rolling out its first mass-market car, the Model 3.

The Chinese market is already dominated by domestic manufacturers like BAIC and BYD , which have aggressively pursued the electric vehicle business. BYD shares gained 4.6% in Hong Kong on Monday following the Chinese officials' comments about the potential ban over the weekend.

Chinese-owned Volvo announced in July that every car it makes from 2019 onward will have an electric motor.

Related: GM is selling a $5,000 electric car in China

Plagued by air pollution, China has been swift to adopt the technology.

Last year, China accounted for more than 40% of the 753,000 electric vehicles sold worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency. That's more than twice as many as the number sold in the U.S.

But while electric sales are increasing fast in China, it remains an overwhelmingly gas and diesel dominated market.

Of the roughly 28 million vehicles sold in China last year, just over 1% were electric, according to the International Energy Agency. The agency defines electric cars as ones powered by batteries or hybrid cars that plug into the power source.

The Chinese government wants 5 million electric cars on the country's roads by 2020.

CNNMoney (Hong Kong) First published September 11, 2017: 12:59 AM ET

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The country, home to the world's largest auto market, is working on a plan to ban the production and sale of vehicles powered solely by fossil fuels, officials say. The Chinese government is following in the footsteps of countries like India, France, Britain and Norway, which have already announced plans to ditch gas and diesel cars in favor of cleaner vehicles in the coming years.

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it broke records of the most money in 2 days.

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With a popular book and memorable 1990 miniseries already to its name (a project that, like many a King thing, began extremely well before fizzling at the end), "It" serves notice early that it isn't just clowning around. And it gives away little to say that by focusing steadfastly on the youths in this story -- as opposed to jumping back and forth in time, as the miniseries did -- the movie shrewdly sets up an inevitable (and planned) sequel featuring their older selves pressed into battle.

Battling what exactly has always been "It's" slightly fuzzy aspect, and that remains true here. Beginning in 1988, the movie takes place in the town of Derry, which is unusually prone to missing persons in general and especially children, snatched away by an ancient evil that, someone eventually figures out, appears to resurface every 27 years. (The time lapse between the aforementioned miniseries and the movie's opening is an especially nice touch.)

The malevolent spirit takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgard), who has picked up some CGI-abetted morphing skills since Tim Curry played him. His accessories, however, are still the the stuff of nightmares, from those razor-sharp teeth to the haunting image of bright red balloons.

Among Pennywise's victims is the little brother of Bill (Jaeden Lieberher), who becomes obsessed with finding out what happened, leading his posse of self-proclaimed losers in investigating a mystery about which the town's adults -- who are about as present as Charlie Brown's parents, when they aren't destructive and evil -- seem to care not at all.

"Nobody else is going to do anything," Beverly (Sophia Lillis), the one girl who finds her way into the group, tells them.

Directed by Andy Muschietti ("Mama"), "It" relies a little too heavily on jump-out-at-you thrills, and perhaps unavoidably yields diminishing returns in its second half, which becomes a trifle repetitive. Still, the camaraderie among the kids -- as well as the nicely rendered flourishes of growing up, from first crushes to the colorfully juvenile insults -- bring enough humor and heart to the horror to carry the movie over its rocky patches.

As King movies go, the tone most closely resembles "Stand By Me" -- one of the highlights of that filmography -- without coming close to scaling those heights. There's also an appropriate connection to "Stranger Things," the Netflix series that played like a King homage, with Finn Wolfhard as the foul-mouthed Richie, who provides the lion's share of the movie's comic relief.

"It" in many ways represents the ultimate King construct, a romanticized trip into adolescence and small-town life where kids are the heroes, adults barely exist and bicycles are the preferred mode of transportation. So while the movie isn't necessarily buoyant, as assembled, it floats just fine.

"It" premieres Sept. 8 in the U.S. It's rated R.

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'it' movie review: stephen king movie doesn't clown around - cnn

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With a popular book and memorable 1990 miniseries already to its name (a project that, like many a King thing, began extremely well before fizzling at the end), "It" serves notice early that it isn't just clowning around.

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Irma's threat is heading North.

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Leaving a trail of devastation in Florida, Irma trudged north on Monday, flooding downtown Charleston, South Carolina, uprooting trees in Atlanta and cutting off coastal communities.

A weakened Irma -- downgraded to a tropical depression Monday night -- still packed power. At least three storm-related deaths were reported in Georgia and one in South Carolina. The deaths occurred mostly when tree limbs fell on victims during the tropical storm that stretched 650 miles from east to west, affecting at least nine states.

As Jacksonville, Florida, grappled with record storm surge, the level of the destruction became more apparent in the hard-hit Florida Keys at the southern tip of the state. Areas without water, power or communications are likely to remain so for some time.

Irma flooded portions of River Street in the tourist magnet city of Savannah, Georgia and forced police to temporarily shut Highway 80 leading to the barrier island community of Tybee Island. Water also filled The Battery, the downtown Charleston neighborhood where the Ashley and Cooper rivers meet. Charleston police asked residents to avoid downtown in anticipation of high tide.

Waters in Charleston Harbor peaked at nearly 10 feet high, the city's third-highest reading, topping Hurricane Matthew in 2016, said CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward.

Parts of coastal Georgia and South Carolina remained under storm surge warning late Monday.

Irma will continue to weaken, but the rain and wind will spread further north. The storm was moving towards Alabama late Monday. It is forecast to move to Tennessee on Tuesday before fizzling out later this week, forecasters said.

The latest developments:

-- As of Monday night, Irma was centered about 95 miles south of Atlanta, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

-- A 57-year-old South Carolina man was fatally injured by a falling tree limb during the storm, Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley told CNN. The man was cutting downed limbs with a chainsaw outside of his home when he was struck.

-Three people died in Georgia: A 62-year-old man who was on his roof was killed in Worth County, which experienced wind gusts of 69 mph, according to Kannetha Clem, a spokeswoman for the Worth County Sheriff's Office. Another man was killed in Sandy Springs, an Atlanta suburb, when a tree fell and "literally cut the home in half,"said Sharon Kraun, the city's communications director. One woman was killed when a downed tree struck her vehicle in Cumming as the car at in a private driveway, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.

-- About 6.2 million electric customers were without power in Florida late Monday, according to Floridadisaster.org. FEMA chief Brock Long has said some places won't have electricity for weeks.

-- More than 1.4 million customers in Georgia were without power, according to Georgia Power and Georgia EMC.

-- In South Carolina, nearly 200,000 customers were without power, according to utility companies.

-- Storm surge warnings in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina mean "there is a danger of life-threatening inundation," the hurricane center said.

'We're definitely shaken up'.

Irma turned Jacksonville's Memorial Park into an unrecognizable lake.

"We have very serious, significant river flooding along the banks of the St. Johns River. It's bad now, it's going to continue to get worse," meteorologist Angie Enyedi said. "We've already surpassed historic levels, the levels will continue to rise."

In one Jacksonville yard, Irma snapped a tree near its roots, sending it crashing onto the car of an evacuee from South Florida on Sunday.

No one was hurt. The tree at the end of Kristine Garcia's driveway, luckily, didn't fall on her house.

"We're definitely shaken up. We were in shock when we went outside," Garcia, 34, told CNN Monday. "If it would have fallen toward our direction, it would have been a ... mess."

No electricity or safe water

Irma devastated much of Marco Island, off the southwest coast of Florida, leaving it with no electricity or clean water.

Roommates Zack Forrest and Krock Indigo rode out the storm on the island and likened Irma to a relentless tornado. "The storm was really intense, it was like a tornado that lasted for an hour and a half," Forrest said.

"No way!" Indigo interrupted. "It was like 5 hours."

By the time Irma finished with Marco Island, it left 15 homes that have either lost their roofs or suffered other severe damage, the fire department said.

The good news is that there were no major injuries, said Marco Island Fire Chief Mike Murphy

"We were the little engine that did it," he told CNN's Ed Lavandera.

Tara O'Neill arrived at her house in Goodland, Florida, on Monday for the first time since the eye of the storm hit the small fishing village at the southeast corner of Marco Island. A tree had crushed her home.

"It's never good when you show up and see this in front of your house," she quipped.

The Goodland native bought the home in 1998 when it was a "dump," she said . She and her husband spent six years remodeling.

O'Neil climbed on the hood of her car to get a better look and found humor in her devastation.

Looters, she joked, could help themselves to anything they wanted.

Some Florida Keys residents could soon be home

Irma made landfall on the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday, but the full extent of the damage there is still unknown.

That's because some islands are extremely difficult to access. Southbound US Route 1 -- the only road connecting the Keys -- is closed, Florida Keys spokesman Andy Newman said.

Large debris is blocking access, and a 150-foot stretch "has some buckling," Newman said.

Crews continued to work to clear US 1. Transportation officials have inspected and cleared some bridges, officials said.

Some evacuees from the Keys will get a chance to lay eyes on the devastation early Tuesday when Monroe County allows residents and business owners in Key Largo, Tavernier and Islamorada to return home.

'It's the worst storm I've ever seen'

But officials urged some evacuated Floridians to be patient and not try to go home yet even though the storm was beyond parts of the Deep South.

"We're asking folks to be patient and remain sheltered in place," said St. Augustine Fire Chief Carlos Aviles.

"Stay off the roads, stay off the streets, let us complete our assessment, clear the roads of water, power lines, trees and then you can get out there and determine what happened to your individual property or your neighborhood," said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler.

The massive storm triggered evacuation orders for 5.6 million people before it made two landfalls in the state Sunday.

The first was over the Florida Keys, and the second, over Marco Island, left the island without water and power, authorities said.

"It's the worst storm I've ever seen," said Bill South of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Irma's deadly trail

Before slamming into to the United States, Irma hit Cuba late Friday as a Category 5 hurricane.

On Monday, Cuban state TV announced 10 hurricane related deaths -- meaning Irma killed a total of 36 people in the Caribbean before heading to the US.

This is the first year on record that the continental United States has had two Category 4 hurricane landfalls in the same year.

Last month, Hurricane Harvey devastated much of coastal Texas and killed more than 70 people.

Are you affected by Irma? Text, iMessage or WhatsApp your videos, photos and stories to CNN (but only if it's safe to do so): +1 347-322-0415.

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Holly Yan, Darran Simon and Faith Karimi, CNN

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Irma floods Jacksonville, Charleston and Savannah

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Leaving a trail of devastation in Florida, Irma trudged north on Monday, flooding downtown Charleston, South Carolina, uprooting trees in Atlanta and cutting off coastal communities. A weakened Irma -- downgraded to a tropical depression Monday night -- still packed power. At least three storm-related deaths were reported in Georgia and one in South Carolina.

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Half of Florida is powerless. big group of over 50,000 people shooting in hurricane Irma.

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Yulia Latynina, a radio host and a colonist with the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said that she fled Russia and is "unlikely to return any time soon". She didn't say where she went.

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A prominent journalist says she has fled Russia following a suspected arson attack on her car.

Yulia Latynina, a radio host and a columnist with the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said that she fled Russia and is "unlikely to return any time soon." She didn't say where she went.

One of the most scathing critics of the Kremlin, Latynina told Ekho Moskvy radio station Sunday she had been followed before and briefly given police protection. Latynina said she is "pretty scared" after her car was set on fire when she was out of town and her elderly parents had to put it out.

Last year, an unidentified assailant threw a bucket of feces at her. Novaya Gazeta then issued a statement, saying she had received death threats.

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Prominent journalist flees Russia after arson attack on car

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A prominent journalist says she has fled Russia following a suspected arson attack on her car. Yulia Latynina, a radio host and a columnist with the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said that she fled Russia and is "unlikely to return any time soon." She didn't say where she went. One of the...

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8 people shot to death in Texas home

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A gunman with multiple weapons barged into his ex-wife's home and shot nine people, killing eight of them, at a Texas football watch party Sunday night - before police responded and killed the shooter, investigators revealed Monday.

Two people were wounded when the gunman, identified by Fox 4 as Spencer Hight, opened fire inside the party at a single-family home off Spring Creek Parkway in Plano, less than 20 minutes from Dallas, around 8 p.m.. The two wounded victims were transported to the hospital where one of them later died. Of the nine shooting victims, only one survived.

Witnesses said the group was watching the Dallas Cowboys season opener against the New York Giants.

"It sounded like an argument between a woman and a man and it got really loud...next thing you know all you heard was multiple rounds just going off," Crystal Sugg, who works nearby, told Fox 4.

Sugg said she heard a loud argument for about 20 minutes - and then gunshots.

"I heard guns and a lot of screaming," she said. "All I heard was, 'Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.'"

Police said at a news conference Monday they have not identified all of the victims, but said they were all adult men and women.

Debbie Lane told WFAA the gunman was her former son-in-law who killed her daughter, Meredith Lane. The mother said the couple recently got divorced after six years of marriage and the man used to own the home where the shooting happened.

"She was a cook, and a quite fine one, and she loved hosting friends and families," Lane told WFAA. "This was her first opportunity to do it after the divorce and he didn't take it well."

"I really wish we knew who the other victims were. They were all close dear friends. We don't know," Lane said.

Other witnesses reported hearing about 30 or more gunshots.

"My neighbor had already heard the first couple of shots, and we came outside and next thing you know, all you heard was like, 'pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,'" Steven Featherland said.

Tilley said police initially responded to a report of shots fired. When the first officer arrived and went inside the home, the officer confronted the suspected shooter.

"After he heard the gunshots, he made entry and that's when he observed several victims inside and then engaged the suspect," police spokesman David Tilley said The Dallas Morning News.

Police have not released a motive for the shooting, though officials said at a news conference Monday it was an isolated incident and the shooter had a prior relationship with a person or people inside that residence.

Plano police chief Gregory Rushin said a shooting of this magnitude was unusual for Plano, especially in such a quiet neighborhood. He could not say whether police had been called to the home before Sunday.

"Any time you have a homocide it's disturbing and certainly when you have this many victims," Rushin said at a press conference. "We've never had this in our city before."

"I've been here all my life," Tilley said. "I've never heard of anything like this."

Sugg added: "I'm in shock. It is always quiet around here."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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8 shot dead at Texas football watch party; gunman killed, police say

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A gunman with multiple weapons barged into his ex-wife's home and shot nine people, killing eight of them, at a Texas football watch party Sunday night - before police responded and killed the shooter, investigators revealed Monday.

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Hurricane Irma: Nearly half of Florida in the dark, Tampa takes pounding

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Hurricane Irma early Monday remained a dangerous Category 2 hurricane and is now bearing down on the Tampa-St. Petersburg region.

The National Hurricane Center said Irma's eye was about 50 miles southeast of Tampa near 11 p.m. Sunday and moving at a fast clip of 14 mph. Still a large hurricane, its tropical storm force winds extend out 415 miles, despite weakening a bit more to 100 mph.

Forecasters say they expert Irma's center to stay inland over Florida and then move into Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

They also expect Irma to weaken further into a tropical storm over far northern Florida or southern Georgia on Monday as it speeds up its forward motion. The hurricane center says the storm is still life-threatening with dangerous storm surge, wind and heavy rains.

More than 3.3 million homes and businesses -- and counting -- have lost power in Florida as Hurricane Irma moves up the peninsula.

The widespread outages stretch from the Florida Keys all the way into central Florida.

Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electric utility, said there were nearly 1 million customers without power in Miami-Dade County alone.

The power outages are expected to increase as the storm edges further north.

There are roughly 7 million residential customers in the state.

The county administrator in the Florida Keys says crews will begin house to house searches Monday morning, looking for people who need help and assessing damage from Hurricane Irma.

Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi says relief will arrive on a C-130 military plane Monday morning at the Key West International Airport.

Once it's light out, they'll check on survivors. They suspect they may find fatalities.

Gastesi says they are "prepared for the worst."

Hurricane Irma made landfall Sunday morning in Cudjoe Key.

But The Associated Press has been texting with John Huston, who has been riding out the storm in his house on Key Largo, on the Atlantic side of the island, just south of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

Every few minutes during the height of the storm, he sent another dispatch.

He described whiteout conditions, with howling winds that sucked dry the gulf side of the narrow island, where the tide is usually 8 feet deep. He kept his humor though, texting to "send cold beer" at one point. Now he sees furniture floating down the street with small boats.

He says the storm surge was at least 6 feet deep on his island, 76 miles from Irma's eye. He can see now that structures survived, but the storm left a big mess at ground level.

Irma set all sorts of records for brute strength before crashing into Florida, flattening islands in the Caribbean and swamping the Florida Keys.

It finally hit the mainland as a big wide beast, but not quite as monstrous as once feared. The once-Category 5 storm lost some of its power on the northern Cuba coast.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Hurricane Irma: Nearly half of Florida in the dark, Tampa braces for storm

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Hurricane Irma early Monday remained a dangerous Category 2 hurricane and is now bearing down on the Tampa-St. Petersburg region. The National Hurricane Center said Irma's eye was about 50 miles southeast of Tampa near 11 p.m. Sunday and moving at a fast clip of 14 mph.

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Irma now a tropical storm, but still lashing Florida and Georgia

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Leaving a trail of devastation in Florida, Irma trudged north on Monday, flooding downtown Charleston, South Carolina, uprooting trees in Atlanta and cutting off coastal communities.

A weakened Irma -- downgraded to a tropical depression Monday night -- still packed power. At least three storm-related deaths were reported in Georgia and one in South Carolina. The deaths occurred mostly when tree limbs fell on victims during the tropical storm that stretched 650 miles from east to west, affecting at least nine states.

As Jacksonville, Florida, grappled with record storm surge, the level of the destruction became more apparent in the hard-hit Florida Keys at the southern tip of the state. Areas without water, power or communications are likely to remain so for some time.

Irma flooded portions of River Street in the tourist magnet city of Savannah, Georgia and forced police to temporarily shut Highway 80 leading to the barrier island community of Tybee Island. Water also filled The Battery, the downtown Charleston neighborhood where the Ashley and Cooper rivers meet. Charleston police asked residents to avoid downtown in anticipation of high tide.

Waters in Charleston Harbor peaked at nearly 10 feet high, the city's third-highest reading, topping Hurricane Matthew in 2016, said CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward.

Parts of coastal Georgia and South Carolina remained under storm surge warning late Monday.

Irma will continue to weaken, but the rain and wind will spread further north. The storm was moving towards Alabama late Monday. It is forecast to move to Tennessee on Tuesday before fizzling out later this week, forecasters said.

The latest developments:

-- As of Monday night, Irma was centered about 95 miles south of Atlanta, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

-- A 57-year-old South Carolina man was fatally injured by a falling tree limb during the storm, Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley told CNN. The man was cutting downed limbs with a chainsaw outside of his home when he was struck.

-Three people died in Georgia: A 62-year-old man who was on his roof was killed in Worth County, which experienced wind gusts of 69 mph, according to Kannetha Clem, a spokeswoman for the Worth County Sheriff's Office. Another man was killed in Sandy Springs, an Atlanta suburb, when a tree fell and "literally cut the home in half,"said Sharon Kraun, the city's communications director. One woman was killed when a downed tree struck her vehicle in Cumming as the car at in a private driveway, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.

-- About 6.2 million electric customers were without power in Florida late Monday, according to Floridadisaster.org. FEMA chief Brock Long has said some places won't have electricity for weeks.

-- More than 1.4 million customers in Georgia were without power, according to Georgia Power and Georgia EMC.

-- In South Carolina, nearly 200,000 customers were without power, according to utility companies.

-- Storm surge warnings in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina mean "there is a danger of life-threatening inundation," the hurricane center said.

'We're definitely shaken up'.

Irma turned Jacksonville's Memorial Park into an unrecognizable lake.

"We have very serious, significant river flooding along the banks of the St. Johns River. It's bad now, it's going to continue to get worse," meteorologist Angie Enyedi said. "We've already surpassed historic levels, the levels will continue to rise."

In one Jacksonville yard, Irma snapped a tree near its roots, sending it crashing onto the car of an evacuee from South Florida on Sunday.

No one was hurt. The tree at the end of Kristine Garcia's driveway, luckily, didn't fall on her house.

"We're definitely shaken up. We were in shock when we went outside," Garcia, 34, told CNN Monday. "If it would have fallen toward our direction, it would have been a ... mess."

No electricity or safe water

Irma devastated much of Marco Island, off the southwest coast of Florida, leaving it with no electricity or clean water.

Roommates Zack Forrest and Krock Indigo rode out the storm on the island and likened Irma to a relentless tornado. "The storm was really intense, it was like a tornado that lasted for an hour and a half," Forrest said.

"No way!" Indigo interrupted. "It was like 5 hours."

By the time Irma finished with Marco Island, it left 15 homes that have either lost their roofs or suffered other severe damage, the fire department said.

The good news is that there were no major injuries, said Marco Island Fire Chief Mike Murphy

"We were the little engine that did it," he told CNN's Ed Lavandera.

Tara O'Neill arrived at her house in Goodland, Florida, on Monday for the first time since the eye of the storm hit the small fishing village at the southeast corner of Marco Island. A tree had crushed her home.

"It's never good when you show up and see this in front of your house," she quipped.

The Goodland native bought the home in 1998 when it was a "dump," she said . She and her husband spent six years remodeling.

O'Neil climbed on the hood of her car to get a better look and found humor in her devastation.

Looters, she joked, could help themselves to anything they wanted.

Some Florida Keys residents could soon be home

Irma made landfall on the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday, but the full extent of the damage there is still unknown.

That's because some islands are extremely difficult to access. Southbound US Route 1 -- the only road connecting the Keys -- is closed, Florida Keys spokesman Andy Newman said.

Large debris is blocking access, and a 150-foot stretch "has some buckling," Newman said.

Crews continued to work to clear US 1. Transportation officials have inspected and cleared some bridges, officials said.

Some evacuees from the Keys will get a chance to lay eyes on the devastation early Tuesday when Monroe County allows residents and business owners in Key Largo, Tavernier and Islamorada to return home.

'It's the worst storm I've ever seen'

But officials urged some evacuated Floridians to be patient and not try to go home yet even though the storm was beyond parts of the Deep South.

"We're asking folks to be patient and remain sheltered in place," said St. Augustine Fire Chief Carlos Aviles.

"Stay off the roads, stay off the streets, let us complete our assessment, clear the roads of water, power lines, trees and then you can get out there and determine what happened to your individual property or your neighborhood," said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler.

The massive storm triggered evacuation orders for 5.6 million people before it made two landfalls in the state Sunday.

The first was over the Florida Keys, and the second, over Marco Island, left the island without water and power, authorities said.

"It's the worst storm I've ever seen," said Bill South of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Irma's deadly trail

Before slamming into to the United States, Irma hit Cuba late Friday as a Category 5 hurricane.

On Monday, Cuban state TV announced 10 hurricane related deaths -- meaning Irma killed a total of 36 people in the Caribbean before heading to the US.

This is the first year on record that the continental United States has had two Category 4 hurricane landfalls in the same year.

Last month, Hurricane Harvey devastated much of coastal Texas and killed more than 70 people.

Are you affected by Irma? Text, iMessage or WhatsApp your videos, photos and stories to CNN (but only if it's safe to do so): +1 347-322-0415.

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Holly Yan, Darran Simon and Faith Karimi, CNN

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Irma floods Jacksonville, Charleston and Savannah

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Leaving a trail of devastation in Florida, Irma trudged north on Monday, flooding downtown Charleston, South Carolina, uprooting trees in Atlanta and cutting off coastal communities. A weakened Irma -- downgraded to a tropical depression Monday night -- still packed power. At least three storm-related deaths were reported in Georgia and one in South Carolina.

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9/11 memorial will include the names of the first responders that were sickened by the smoke and other bad things.

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POINT LOOKOUT, N.Y. (AP) - A Long Island beach where people gathered and watched in horror as the distant World Trade Center towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001 is the site of the latest memorial to victims of the terror attacks and among a growing number that honor people who died of illnesses years after participating in the rescue and recovery effort.

The monument, built by the town of Hempstead near the Atlantic Ocean on Long Island's south shore, features a twisted, 30-foot-tall beam of Trade Center steel, an elevated walkway and granite plaques engraved with the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks.

A separate plaque will have the names of 582 police officers, firefighters, construction workers, cleanup volunteers and others who spent time in the rubble of the World Trade Center in the days or months after the attacks and, years later, died of a variety of causes that they, their families or their doctors suspected were linked to toxic ash and smoke at the site. There will be room to add more names.

"I think what the town of Hempstead is doing is nothing short of honorable," said John Feal, a longtime advocate for 9/11 responders with health problems. "People who lost a loved one to illness suffer just like someone lost on that day. Hopefully this will offer some ease and comfort to them."

Hempstead will officially dedicate its $1.3 million memorial at a service Monday, the 16th anniversary of the attacks.

It joins a short but growing list of similar memorials recognizing people who fell ill after participating in the rescue and recovery operation.

In May, officials at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum announced plans to set aside a commemorative space at the World Trade Center to honor rescue and recovery workers.

New York's police and fire departments also have memorials for personnel who have died of illnesses since Sept. 11. A 9/11 memorial in Staten Island recently added a plaque with the names of residents there who have died of illnesses.

Feal's charitable organization also maintains a memorial wall to 9/11 responders in Nesconset, New York.

"I truly believe that everyone there that day was a hero," said Robert Gies, who was 13 when his father, New York City Fire Department Lt. Ronnie Gies, died in the south tower. "Whether they died on 9/11 or four years later, every person is a hero. Those people who worked there in the aftermath in those hazardous conditions, those people touch my heart. They rushed there to save and find my father. They found him and he was able to be laid to rest. That's huge closure."

Researchers continue to study the long-term health impact on people exposed to sooty air at the Trade Center site.

Determining how many people had serious illnesses directly linked to that exposure is a challenge, especially because many of the people involved are now of an age where health problems, like cancer, are quite common.

Roughly 30,000 people have applied to the government compensation fund for people with illnesses they think might be related to 9/11. Officials overseeing the fund still are reviewing those claims but have so far awarded $3 billion. About 2,700 of the 17,400 people whose claims have been approved have cancer.

Through the end of August, 144 of the approved claims involved someone who died of an illness that made them eligible for compensation.

That doesn't mean the government has concluded that their illness was definitely caused by toxins unleashed on 9/11. The program was designed to cover anyone who could show they were exposed to World Trade Center smoke, dust and ash and was subsequently diagnosed with an illness that, at least theoretically, might be caused by some of the chemicals present at the site.

Hempstead officials said their criteria for inclusion on their memorial mirrored rules set by Feal for a similar list of dead that he maintains.

In addition to the steel beam, planted like a flag, and the plaques with names, the memorial park includes a table inscribed with the Walt Whitman poem "On the Beach at Night."

The east side of the park features a pear tree grown from a seedling from the so-called "Survivor Tree" that lived through the destruction at ground zero.

Another plaque will point in the direction of the rebuilt World Trade Center, visible 24 miles in the distance.

"Having it on the beach at Point Lookout, the same place where hundreds of people assembled in the wake of the terrorist attacks, makes it uniquely compelling," town supervisor Anthony Santino said.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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9/11 memorial to include names of sickened responders

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POINT LOOKOUT, N.Y. (AP) - A Long Island beach where people gathered and watched in horror as the distant World Trade Center towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001 is the site of the latest memorial to victims of the terror attacks and among a growing number that honor people who died of illnesses years after participating in the rescue and recovery effort.

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2017 wild fire is far worse than expected in far west of us A wet winter and spring in the Western U.S. brought predictions that the 2017 wildfire season would be mild. It was anything but. It ended up one of the worst in U.S. history in land burned.

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A wet winter and spring in the Western U.S. brought predictions that the 2017 wildfire season would be mild. It was anything but. It ended up one of the worst in U.S. history in land burned.

The smoke, the flames, the aching lungs, the evacuations. They're summertime facts of life in the U.S. West, where every wildfire season competes with memories of previous destruction.

The foliage that sprouted from previous rain and snow has gone bone-dry in intense heat, feeding flames in places that have not seen downpours in months and strangling cities with smoke.

The biggest fires came a little later than usual in some states, after Labor Day, when the fire season traditionally starts to peter out.

A look at the fires:

---

OREGON

It's been weeks since Maryjane Carlson has been able to relax.

The artist lives in Brookings, a small city along the southern Oregon coast that's threatened by one of the nation's largest wildfires. Carlson and her neighbors never know when the blaze is going to move closer to the wooded town.

"It's overwhelming," she said Wednesday. "It's kind of like living in a war zone."

In addition to the fear of the flames, smoke never leaves. An asthmatic, Carlson had to buy an air purifier and sometimes covers her face with a mask.

Thousands of residents have evacuated as firefighters battle blazes statewide, including one devastating hiking trails and waterfalls in the scenic Columbia River Gorge.

Officials expect the fire near Brookings to burn for at least another month. The weather is a wild card in a region accustomed to rain and fog. If it's hot and dry, it will be a scary September.

"We don't know what the weather's going to do, and half the problem is that uncertainty," Carlson said.

---

MONTANA

Darinda Yoder wishes she had not waited so long to evacuate her home near Montana's border with Canada.

If she had left earlier, she would not have the terrifying memory of flames rushing down a mountain toward the state's oldest Amish community this weekend.

"The fire came down so fast they almost didn't get us out," Yoder told the Missoulian newspaper. "I don't think it would have affected me the way it is now if I'd not seen the fire."

It has burned 10 homes and 30 other buildings and threatened a community on the western shore of Lake Koocanusa on Wednesday. Some 187 residents have fled West Kootenai, with most staying with families on the lake's eastern shore or in recreational vehicles.

It's among dozens of fires that have forced people from their homes, destroyed residences and filled the sky with smoke for months statewide.

---

WASHINGTON

Local recreationists and tourists mourned damage to popular hiking trails and campsites from a wildfire near Mount Rainier National Park.

It more than doubled in size to 68 square miles (175 square kilometers) and closed all backcountry trails on the east side of the iconic park.

Steffen Rausch told Seattle news station KIRO-TV that he was saddened the fire closed 70 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from Canada to Mexico, near Mount Rainier.

"Because if you are going to do PCT, you want to do as much of the PCT as you can," said Rausch, a German who had hiked from the Mexico border to Washington.

Rangers worked to alert hikers to leave the area. Some campers were told to have their gear packed.

Smoke swathed areas from Seattle to Spokane, where the air Wednesday was rated as hazardous.

---

IDAHO

Catholic nuns living at the Monastery of St. Gertrude can normally see across an entire prairie to the Bitterroot Mountains.

But they were hard-pressed Wednesday to see the road leading to the monastery in the city of Cottonwood amid heavy smoke.

"Everything is just a big haze," Sister Placida Wemhoff said. "Our eyes smart and sting."

Cottonwood had the unwanted distinction of having the worst air quality in the nation for much of Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency said.

Wemhoff would normally be putting the flowerbeds to rest for the winter but had to halt the work. Most of the nuns are older and particularly at risk from the hazardous air quality.

"The sisters are trying to avoid heavy work where you puff and pant," Wemhoff said.

Idaho's largest wildfire is being allowed to burn in a rugged wilderness area. Authorities say they plan to protect bridges, a ranch, and other high-value sites that could be threatened by the 110-square-mile (285-square-kilometer) blaze.

---

UTAH

Nearly 200 homes in a high-end neighborhood nestled in the foothills near a northern Utah canyon were evacuated Wednesday as crews battled a blaze that has burned three houses.

Calmer winds allowed firefighters to stop the 1-square-mile (2.5-square-kilometer) fire from spreading toward more homes in the city of Ogden, said Rachelle Handley of the U.S. Forest Service.

Mark Archer said he and his wife received texts about a mandatory evacuation Tuesday and drove home from their jobs in a panic because they had left their 18-year-old son sleeping. He had already left because of the heavy smoke, so Archer and his wife grabbed their pets and important documents.

They were back to their house that evening, which smelled like a campfire. Warned that high winds could trigger another evacuation, Archer and his family had bags packed.

He set his alarm to look out the window every two hours.

"It's still scary to go home in case it picks up with high winds," said Archer, 56, adding his lungs and eyes stung Wednesday. "All I can do is just hope and pray."

---

CALIFORNIA

Twenty large blazes burned across the state, including one outside Yosemite National Park that moved through ancient sequoia trees and another that burned five homes in Los Angeles.

A big Labor Day weekend wildfire in the LA suburb of Burbank was reduced to a black scar but remained dangerous. It had burned near 1,400 homes.

"We are not out of the woods yet," Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott said of the potential for hotspots.

In Northern California, centers with air purifiers have opened and some schools have suspended classes as smoke from several wildfires fills the air. Dr. Donald Baird, health officer of far northern Humboldt County, urged people to stay indoors to give their lungs a break.

In neighboring Trinity County, a fire on both sides of a river was expanding north toward another fire after destroying 72 homes and forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate.

Outside Yosemite, crews gained ground against a blaze that burned halfway through a grove of 2,700-year-old giant sequoias. Officials said it had not killed any trees, which can withstand low-intensity fires.

---

Associated Press correspondents Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Nicholas K. Geranios in Spokane, Washington; Matt Volz in Helena, Montana; Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed.

---

This story has been corrected to show that the couple retrieved important documents and pets from their Utah home, not their son.

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2017 wildfire season in US West far worse than expected

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A wet winter and spring in the Western U.S. brought predictions that the 2017 wildfire season would be mild. It was anything but. It ended up one of the worst in U.S. history in land burned. The smoke, the flames, the aching lungs, the evacuations. They're summertime facts of life in the...

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Dr.Oz came up with a solution that gets rid of wrinkles and bags under your eyes with in 90 seconds.

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Don't endure the physical pain and expense of costly procedures and surgeries. Bella Silk works naturally to help replenish your skin's moisture, firming its appearance and restoring your natural glow to reveal a younger-looking you.

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A six-year-old boy was in trouble at school for bullying a transgender by not using the right gender, and his parents removed him from the school claiming it was "unlawful." The child had been removed from a previous school for the same reasons two years ago.

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Georgia declares state of emergency in all counties ahead of Irma

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Georgia officials declared a state of emergency in all counties on Sunday in preparation for Hurricane Irma after the National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning in Atlanta - for the first time in the city's history.

Gov. Nathan Deal declared the state of emergency in 159 counties after Irma's forecasted path threatened to unleash deadly wind gusts, heavy rain and possible flooding as early as Sunday night, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

"I want to caution all Georgians that just because the weather appears calm now, do not take that for granted," Deal said in an earlier news conference.

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The National Weather Service issued a Tropical Storm Warning in Dodge County. Wind gusts up to 60 mph with tropical storm-force winds could whip through starting Monday morning and into Tuesday, forecasters said. Peak winds were expected to reach 30 to 40 mph. Officials said Irma, a Category 3 storm as of Sunday afternoon, can damage porches, carports, sheds and unanchored mobile homes.

State government offices will be closed Monday and Tuesday along with several schools. Parts of south Georgia are under a Hurricane Warning.

Atlanta hotels and shelters filled with evacuees by Sunday morning. At the luxury Georgian Terrace Hotel, staff were flexible with rules to accommodate evacuees. Guests walked pit bulls through the lobby. Large families pulled roller bags and clutched blankets as they squeezed into small rooms without enough beds.

A block away, a church offered free hugs for evacuees.

Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane just after 9 a.m. Sunday, bringing 130 mph winds and inches of rain within hours. In Miami, a crane - one of the two dozen in the city - collapsed due to gusty winds.

The storm threatens to wreak havoc in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee has it heads north. President Trump spoke to the governors in the states from the Camp David presidential retreat.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Georgia declares state of emergency in all counties ahead of Irma

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Georgia officials declared a state of emergency in all counties on Sunday in preparation for Hurricane Irma after the National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning in Atlanta - for the first time in the city's history. Gov.